Howdy all, and welcome to Grey Dog Distilling, a blog dedicated to the hobby of craft distilling and brewing.

I started this blog to document some of my adventures, success, and more likely, failures in craft distilling and brewing. I plan on learning lots from these failures, repeat my successes, and have a fun and engaging hobby along the way. If others can read about what not to do and apply them to their endeavours, then all the better.

A bit about my background; I started making wine from kits in 2004 or so and found I could make a fairly consistent and drinkable wine, but didn't really challenge myself that much. It was more of a way to make cheap wine in a region of Canada with high taxes and low selection.

A few years ago I relocated to a part of the country that has relatively lower taxes and a great deal better selection. I didn't want to go to the expense of transporting broken glass carboys, so I got rid of all the wine making stuff as it seemed redundant anyway with what was available at the numerous liquor stores. I still wanted a similar way to make alcohol so I started researching distilling. I also had a lot more time on my hands, and enjoy tinkering, so that seemed like a natural progression.

I've fabricated my own still out of a 3 foot length of 2" copper pipe, liebig condenser, and 50L stainless steel keg. The project gave me the opportunity to dust off some long-neglected plumbing and metalworking skills, and I find the setup is just the right size for what I want to accomplish and the time commitment I can make.

One other area where I've decided to branch into is working with fruit and brewing ciders. I have a number of neighbours with fruit trees and nothing to do with the produce. Knowing that I'm handy with alcohol, they've been dropping off bins of apples and asking me to do something inebriating with them (both the apples and the neighbours). Challenge accepted!

As I mentioned, I'm a bit of a tinkerer, I enjoy hobbies that have a practical aspect to them. For me it's just as enjoyable building and improving the equipment I use than to perfect a recipe for ciders, whiskeys, and rums. Through this blog I hope to explore a bit of all of those things with you, the readers.

One disclaimer and important note that I feel compelled to bring up early is the legality surrounding this hobby. I encourage all readers, whether you're practicing the craft already or just doing the critical pre-reading before you put yeast to sugar, to know and understand the laws and regulations surrounding craft brewing and distilling in your particular region. In Canada it varies province to province, so I hope that you know what your laws state. If you chose to continue with this as a hobby, it's also imperative that you know the consequences.

Thanks, and talk again soon!


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Rum!

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